ABSTRACT
Interest to develop new anticancer drugs and to design combination treatments with little or no secondary effects provides new scope for traditional phytochemicals in chemoprevention and therapy. Propolis is a known source of polyphenols, and flavonoids found in them have been widely studied as biochemical markers for botanical origin and in explaining their antioxidant capacity as a key factor in chemoprevention. Antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and anticancer biological activities of propolis are known. Studies of cancer cells to measure the anticancer effect of propolis are designed with one carefully chosen component, and with extracts applied to cells in culture media. The antitumor effect of propolis and caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE), bioactive compound of propolis extract, is seen to be associated with its ability to initiate apoptosis of cancer cells. Chrysin is a flavonoid of interest to identify signaling molecules related to cancer. As cancer cells develop multidrug resistance (MDR) during chemotherapy, this opens a new avenue of research on cellular mechanisms of propolis components in combined treatments designed to overcome MDR. ABBREVIATIONS: BRP;- Brazilian red propolis CA;- caffeic acid CAPE-; phenetyl caffeate COX;- cyclooxygenase COX-1;- cyclooxygenase-1 COX-2;- cyclooxygenase-2 EEP-; ethanolic extract of propolis GPE;- grape polyphenols HUVEC;- human umbilical vein endothelial cells IFNγ;- interferon γ IgG-; immunoglobulin IL-1β, IL-2, IL-6-; interleukin family, interleukin-2, interleukin-6 iNOS;- inducible nitric oxide synthase LPS;- lipopolysacharide MDR -; multidrug resistance MMPs;- metalloproteinases MoDCs-; monocyte-derived dendritic cells NADPH-oxidase;- nicotin adenin dinucleotide phosphate oxidase NF-kB-; nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells NO-; nitric oxide OSF-; oral submucous fibrosis RNS-; reactive nitrogen species ROS-; reactive oxygen species STAT3;- cytokine-activated transcription factor in Th17 TNBC-; triple negative breast cancer TNF-α-; tumor necrosis factor TRAIL-; tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand TSCCa-; tongue squamous cell carcinoma STAT 3-; signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 Th17-; T helper 17 cell UPLC–qTOF;-MS/MS;- ultra-performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometry VEGF;- vascular endothelial growth factor.